


Anchor Point

by ohstardustgirl



Series: Rebelcaptain Prompts [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: AU - Everybody Lives, Bounty Hunter, F/M, Fluff, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Rebelcaptainprompts, Romance, Tumblr Prompt, hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 15:08:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9825860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohstardustgirl/pseuds/ohstardustgirl
Summary: For @rebelcaptainprompts - A Hand To HoldJyn and Cassian are on a frantic escape from a bounty hunter, and hand holding ensues.





	

Their desperate run comes to a skidding stop when they emerge from the alley and hit the centre of the city's main trading area. The market looks almost like NiJedha - wood and stone and beggars - but has what feels like half the population of Coruscant packed in the massive, enclosed square, hundreds of sweating bodies pushing and sliding against each other and working around the stalls. The planet is already unbearably hot and sticky, and he can feel the air become more oppressive at the very thought of being in the thick of the crowd.

Cassian curses and slips to the side of a stall. Jyn comes flush against him, pressed so close he can feel her chest rise and fall against his as the crowd pushes into them. Above them, atop the high stone walls, he sees the bounty hunter climb to the edge.

"Through the crowd is safest." She says. "If we go out the other side we can double back on the outskirts to the ship."

He grips her and turns them, so they look just like every other customer eyeing up the sparkling necklaces on the stall. 

"If we get separated -"

She cuts him off with a shake of her head, but still says, "We wait at the ship."

With one last look at her, Cassian grabs Jyn's hand to anchor her to him, and falls in line behind the first person going the direction they need. He resists the urge to barrel through or slip around the edges, instead falling into the natural moving rhythm of the crowd - anything more would draw too much attention. When the person in front comes to a dead stop at a stall selling sour smelling meats he swiftly slips into the next moving lane. Cassian knows the bounty hunter trailing them is cocky enough (and justifiably so, from his reputation) to risk a sniper's shot from the his vantage on the high walls above into the crowd, but only if he can spot them first. Jyn's grip on his is fierce and he can feel the tension in her arm like steel as she strives to keep their joined hands tight to her body so there is no space between them and no leverage for the rush of the crowd to separate them. She stumbles against his heels when he is stopped by the traffic, and her other hand comes up to grip at his hip from behind, fingers curling tightly around the bone, blunt nails digging in, and her chest pushes flush and hot against the thin shirt covering his back. It's a testament to his training that he's only marginally distracted before they start to move again, and he quickly stores away the sensations for a time when they're not at risk of being assassinated or crushed.

The air cools and thins as they approach the edge of the square. Blessed respite from the captivity of the crowd is within reach. Cassian risks a glance up to the high walls surrounding the market. The bounty hunter is still up there, hooded head twitching this way and that as he scans the crowd. Jyn pulls him to the side of last stall at the edge of the market. He can see the sweat beaded on her brow, her cheeks flushed captivatingly pink. She huddles close to him, still holding his hand between their bodies. 

"Ready to run?" He asks, voice low as he scans the gap between them and the alleyway. It's tempting to make a break towards it from here but they'll just stand out from the slow pace of the crowd. They can't really make an escape until they're safely sheltered by the high walls of the alley.

She nods. "Lead the way."

They feign casualness, their joined hands swinging between them while they pretend to consider the wares in front of them. Once he catches sight of a group of locals heading towards the alley, he squeezes her hand and they follow the slow pace of the locals to freedom. 

Once they're in the shelter of the alley, they break into a run. They dodge the locals and jump over debris as he follows turns that will lead them back to the safety of their ship. 

He drags her down side streets, through a narrow gaps between buildings, his eyes ahead and hers checking their backs. They twist and turn, doubling back on themselves more than once. Cassian pulls to the left suddenly, and the sharp change in momentum with their hands still joined causes Jyn to swing ahead before being pulled back against him in the doorway. Again they're too close, bodies pressed tight and hands clasped together at his heart. This accidental closeness happens far too often when they're working together, he thinks, and not nearly often enough when their lives aren't in danger.

"We good?" She asks, breath huffing against his chest, tantalising the skin exposed by his open collar.

He knocks his head back against the door behind him, trying to focus as he fights to catch his breath in the sweltering air. "I think so. If we stick to the alleys we can circle back to the ship out of sight."

"All this for a kriffing list of security codes." She grumbles, double checking the presence of the stolen data card in her hip pocket with a tap of her free hand. "Guess the bounty hunter means we're famous?"

"I figured you'd be the one to know."

Jyn slaps his chest playfully. He knows he's right though, he's read her file, though technically she's had bounty hunters after her for every alias except her real one until now. "Shall we go then? I'm sure Kay will have a lovely lecture on keeping a low profile waiting for us." She rolls her eyes and he snorts at the thought. The droid's prediction of the mission having a 39% success rate didn't seem so pessimistic right now.

"Let's go. I'd hate to make him wait." He squeezes her hand as he pushes away from the wall and uncurls his fingers from hers, realising they haven't exactly needed to be clinging to each other like this since leaving the market. After a moment, Jyn furrows her brow and grasps his hand again without looking at him, marching onward and pulling him along. She doesn't let go until they're back safe to the ship, and when she does Cassian feels the loss as if someone has taken his arm.

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd! 
> 
> This started as a paragraph but then I went with it :/


End file.
